Because He Was Ours
by StormScythe
Summary: Naruto brought back Sasuke, Itachi was dead, and now they finally could become a team again, go back to way things were before. Then Pain invaded, and Naruto died. Team 7 was broken once more, permanently this time. That is until Kakashi finds a legacy of Jiraya and Minato's work, and a chance to change everything.
1. Prologue

Naruto was dead. This thought was the only thing that pervaded the consciousness of Haruno Sakura. Pain had killed him, after a long, intense battle between the jinchuuriki and the leader of the Akatsuki. _"It's not fair!"_ she screamed inside her head. _"We just got Sasuke back! We were supposed to be a team again!"_

After years of training, searching, and chasing, Naruto had finally fulfilled his promise to Sakura. He had gone after Itachi after hearing news of Orochimaru's death, knowing that Sasuke would be making his move soon.

Running into the remains of the battlefield between the two brothers, Naruto had found Sasuke collapsed next to his brother's corpse, with a strange plant-man standing over him. Immediately dispatching clones to chase off the stranger, Naruto had sealed Itachi's corpse into a scroll, and carried Sasuke away.

Sakura had quickly assessed Sasuke's wounds and stabilized him, assuring the worried Naruto that Sasuke would be okay. The entire party consisting of the Konoha 11 had then journeyed back to Konoha.

A relieved Tsunade had met the group at the gates to welcome them back, but before they were 20 feet into the village, they had been accosted by Danzo. He attempted to order Sasuke taken into custody as a missing-nin, before Naruto interfered. The thought brought a choked sob out of Sakura.

 **Flashback**

"Are you nuts!?" Naruto glared at Konoha's War Hawk.

"Not at all young man. The Uchiha deserted Konoha and has brought danger to several members of our Shinobi core, not least of all you, on several occasions." Danzo countered. "He must be imprisoned as a threat to village security."

Naruto spun to look at Tsunade for help. "Unfortunately he has a point Naruto. While he was never declared officially a missing-nin, that was mostly a technicality. But he DID desert, and he DID attack you several times." Sakura had shot her mentor a betrayed look. Tsunade had winced, before continuing. "It's a temporary thing, until we can get Inoichi to mind walk him, and ensure he isn't going to betray us again."

"Baa-chan are you crazy! That's what this bastard wants!" Naruto indicated Danzo. "He prob-"

"Insolent brat! Respect your superiors!" cried Danzo.

"Shut up bastard!" Naruto spat back. "I reserve respect for those who deserve it, and I answer to Kakashi, and the Hokage, in that order." He turned back to Tsunade. "Baa-chan you're the one who told me not to trust this asshole. He probably wants to brainwash him or something!"

Danzo fumed at Naruto's disrespect, but before he could reply, Tsunade spoke again. "Naruto, please calm down. While I agree Danzo should remember he has not authority over the Shinobi core," she shot an annoyed glance at Danzo. "He does have a point. There are protocols we need to follow, and unless you can prove that Sasuke's actions were a benefit to the village, we need to asses him as a threat."

Naruto then looked thoughtful. "Beneficial to the village, like say, hunting down missing-nin?" Naruto asked.

"Bah, there may have been reports that the brat killed Orochimaru, but there is no proof he actually did! He could still be working for Orochimaru as an infiltrator!" Danzo tried to regain the initiative.

Naruto had just smirked in a way that Sakura, Kakashi, and Naruto's other friends had long grown wary of. It spoke of a prank incoming. "So just to be clear Baa-chan, if we could prove Sasuke killed Orochimaru, it would keep him out of Danzo's claws?" At Tsunade's wary answering nod, his smirk turned into a full on grin, and drew two scrolls out of his pouch. He seemed to take far too much pleasure from dropping Itachi's corpse and Orochimaru's head at Tsunade's feet. "There, proof of two S-Rank missing-nin kills by Uchiha Sasuke. We located him alongside Itachi's body, and he was in possession of the scroll containing Orochimaru's head. Now Danzo, kindly fuck off!"

And Naruto and Sakura hand carried Sasuke past Danzo's inarticulate sputtering and off to the hospital.

 **End Flashback**

Not long after that, they had learned of Jiraya's death in Amegakure, and Naruto had departed to learn Senjutsu from the Toads. Sasuke had remained behind, with the secret promise between them that he would alert Naruto immediately if the village came under attack. He didn't want anyone else dying in his place.

True to his word, Sasuke had sent word to Naruto the moment Pain had attacked. Arriving in a reverse summon, Naruto and Sasuke had proceeded to come down on the invading Paths of Pain like the wrath of Kami. Of the six paths only one had still been standing after 15 minutes.

Naruto and Sasuke battling back to back had been as terrifying as anyone who knew the pair expected. With the trust they held for one another, they moved without hesitation, attacks moving past one another, or joining together in a random, incomprehensible rhythm only the two of them could perceive. Sakura and Kakashi had supported them from behind, covering their few blind spots, and aiding the civilians they saved, as Team 7 was reborn in a trial of fire.

Then tragedy had struck, as Naruto sacrificed himself to save Sakura.

 **Flashback**

Naruto landed back next to Sasuke as the shriek from his last thrown Rasenshuriken faded away, Sasuke's Susanoo fading into existence around them, intercepting an attack from the Animal Path's Centipede Summon. Sakura crashed down onto the monster's head like a meteor, her fist pulverizing it's exoskeleton and forcing it's summoning to dispel in a cloud of smoke.

Naruto hadn't missed a beat and as he regained his footing he leapt past Sasuke straight towards the Animal Path's body. Seeing him coming the Animal path had prepared a spike to drive through Naruto's chest as he arrived, but a Kage Bunshin popped into existence next to Naruto, and flipped him over the Animal path, before a third Naruto appeared and sent the original towards the Animal Path's back.

Just as the first clone died on the Animal path's metal spike, Naruto smashed a Rasengan into the Animal path's back sending her careening back towards Sasuke. Turning to face the oncoming hostile, Sasuke had neatly fielded her body with a Chidori through the head, destroying the path. Naruto skidded to a halt, and looked at Sasuke. "Just like old times! Except with more badass! Oh and Sakura isn't useless…" Naruto teased.

"Hn," Sasuke replied with a smirk.

"Can it Naruto-baka!" exclaimed an irate Sakura.

Before she could continue to berate him, they all heard a new voice "Bansho Ten'in" and Sakura was yanked backwards and up towards the roof of a building. Naruto saw the direction she was flying, saw the Deva path readying a spike, and acted on autopilot.

Without even thinking about it he knew he would never reach the Deva path in time, nor could he stop Sakura's flight by catching her. So he molded his chakra and triggered a kwarimi with Sakura, taking her place in the air, and with a sickening _shlurk_ found Pain's weapon embedded through his chest, straight through his heart.

 **End Flashback**

Needless to say, Sasuke had reduced that particular path to a fine red mist in a Kirin blast. Sakura continued to sob as she cradled Naruto's head in her lap. There wasn't a hole anymore, she had poured everything she had into healing it, into _making Naruto better_ but he _wouldn't wake up_. And so she had to admit the he was gone. Sasuke stood mutely over them, unable to process that Naruto, the unpredictable, incomprehensible, brilliant dead last was gone.

He wrapped an arm around Sakura's shoulders and held her in an awkward hug, unsure what to do in this situation. _"Damnit Naruto, don't you know Sakura needs you! I'm no good at this shit! What happened to always being there for each other! As a team, damnit!"_ Even as he thought that he felt guilty, knowing he hadn't been there for them like he should have been.

Soon after, other Shinobi began to arrive, standing on rooftops, filling the streets, but keeping a respectful distance from the grieving Team 7. All of them had seen Naruto going toe to toe with Pain, his clones carrying others to safety, and ensuring that none of his comrades died in front of him. The village had finally realized that Naruto was a hero. And universally, the Shinobi bowed their heads in grief for another fallen comrade.

And Sakura remembered his final words, uttered to his team, the ones he considered family.

 **Flashback**

Sakura was kneeling next to Naruto, pouring green medical chakra into the hole in his chest, but it seemed to just dissipate before reaching his skin. "Sakura…" croaked Naruto. He reached out and gently pulled her wrist away. "Bastard's rods are made of a chakra disruptive metal, and he did something to that one. Sent flakes of it spreading out into the wound. Chakra can't heal this. Even the fox is powerless."

Sakura had growled. "Shut it baka. I became a medic to save you and Saskue so let me do my job. I still need to pay you back for that useless comment and I can't do that with you bleeding out!" Even so she felt a tear leak out as her diagnostic jutsu told her he was right.

Naruto coughed painfully, and spat out a globule of blood, and after a second asked, "Sasuke, did we win? Are our comrades safe?"

Sakura had held back a sob, and Sasuke had replied, unwilling even in his head to acknowledge the thickness in his throat. "Yeah, we got them all. All six paths, and the blue haired chick. The real one was a cripple and the elder Ino-Shika-Cho formation brought him down."

Naruto had sighed, and nodded once. "Then it's all good. We protected them, and the rest…the rest is just…just details." He finished tiredly, closed his eyes. And died. Sakura had let out a muffled scream of anguish and tore the metal flakes from the wound, forced the wound to close, but it was too late.

Naruto was gone.

 **End Flashback**

* * *

 **Several Days Later**

After the funeral Kakashi hadn't been seen for days, he simply sat at the memorial stone and stared, tears leaking from his only visible eye. Eventually Tsunade had come and forced him to come back to the Hokage compound where she explained that Jiraya had left everything to him and Naruto. But since Naruto was now gone, it was all going to him.

The reminder of his other major loss nearly sent him back over the edge. He was no stranger to loss, and he could have dealt with the loss of either Naruto or Jiraya, but to lose both so close together felt far too much like when he lost Obito, then Rin, and finally Minato. Tsunade had sent him home with a box of Jiraya's things that he had left in her care, and strict orders to be at the hospital for a check in tomorrow morning. Or she would come and find him herself.

Kakashi had gotten home and sat down on his couch, the box left unopened in front of him. After a while his eyes drifted to a pair of pictures that took place of pride on his mantle, the first of himself, Obito, Rin and Minato, while the second depicted an older version of himself, Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke.

Despite Naruto's upset image in the picture, Kakashi remembered Naruto's grin, his never say die attitude, and knew that if he saw him sitting there like that, he would kick his ass. So he forced himself to remove the lid of the box, and sort through it. It was mostly old journals of Jiraya's notes on seals, his spy activities, and the like. He even found a manuscript for an unpublished novel of Jiraya's, but he just couldn't bring himself to care.

Then he found the scroll. Opening it, he saw what looked like a completed seal, but wasn't sure what in the blazes it was supposed to do. He recognized a few elements from Jiraya's notebooks, and using those as references he translated the seal.

Then he rechecked his work, carefully rolled up the scroll, and blurred out of his apartment faster than he had moved in years, clutching the precious scroll to his chest. Sasuke and Sakura needed to see this, because it would change everything.

Literally.

* * *

Sakura had taken one look at Kakashi's expression and followed him without a second thought. He looked so hopeful, and she was desperate for something good to happen at that moment. When they arrived at the Uchiha compound Sasuke, who had sensed them coming, opened the door wordlessly and ushered them inside.

Once they were all seated in the sitting room, Kakashi unfurled the scroll. "How familiar are you both with the principals of fuinjutsu, and in particular the Hraishin?"

Sasuke simply raised an eyebrow in confusion, so Sakura decided to answer. "Fuinjutsu is the art of creating pathways to guide and manipulate chakra outside of direct human control. Typically ink mixed with some kind of organic medium is used as a base," she started. "The Hraishin was a legendary technique created by the Nidaime, and perfected by the Yondaime, utilizing some kind of seal to facilitate instant teleportation to any marked location."

"A textbook answer, and mostly correct." Kakashi replied, excitement leaking into his voice. Sasuke leaned forwards sensing something coming. "Fuinjutsu is, ultimately, the art of manipulating space and time. All seals at some fundamental level, alter the fabric of reality to create pocket dimensions, stretch space between two points, etc. to create the various effects we see from seals." At the word time Sasuke had a sudden suspicion as to where Kakashi was going.

"The Hraishin in particular manipulated space in several ways, creating a duplicate of nearby space time within a pocket dimension, which was then filled with the chakra of the user. This allowed the user to sense anything within that chakra field, giving them an image of nearby surroundings. Additionally, that charge acted a beacon allowing the user to aim the second portion of the technique, which was kept secret by the Nidaime and Yondaime."

Sakura was still confused. "So this seal," she indicated the scroll. "Has something to do with the Hraishin?"

Kakashi nodded enthusiastically. "It has everything to do with the Hraishin. In fact, it IS the Hraishin, with one, itsy-bitsy difference. Instead of manipulating space, it manipulates time." Sasuke nodded slowly, while Sakura's jaw dropped. "Apparently back when Minato found the basics of the Hraishin, he got Jiraiya-sama to help him with it. Jiraya never puzzled out second portion, which is why he could never use the Hraishin, but had the idea of converting the first portion into a time seal. Theoretically this would allow him to move small pockets of space backwards through time."

"Why didn't he use it!" Sakura exclaimed! "He could have prevented the Kyuubi attack! Or later on Orochimaru's attack!"

"He never finished it. Minato came close though. This is a draft that Minato-sensei sent to Jiraya-sama to look over. Minato was working on converting the second portion of the seal, and had succeeded. But the energy costs for sending anything physical back through time were astronomical."

"If it doesn't work, why are you so excited?" asked Sasuke with narrowed eyes.

Kakashi eye smiled. "Because it DOES work. Jiraya-sama, after figuring out that the issue was the physical matter, worked out a way to send a person's consciousness back, rather than their bodies. He never used it because he never had time to develop the last seal he needed to make it workable. A seal which was capable of containing, and distributing senjutsu chakra."

Sasuke touched the cursed seal on his shoulder. "Something Orochimaru did figure out, and gave to me."

Understanding dawned on Sakura. "Sasuke can power the seal. Sasuke can send us back in time. We can save Naruto!" Sakura felt like a great weight had been lifted off her chest.

"Screw that!" said Sasuke. Kakashi and Sakura looked at him in shock and horror. "We do this, we're doing it the way Naruto would." A smirk that reminded them both of Naruto was growing across his face. "As big as we can make it. We go back to the beginning, to the creation of team 7, and we do things right this time."

Sakura thought back, of all the little things Naruto had learned, and stretched into incredible feats, all the times he had done the seemingly impossible with no support. "Whenever Naruto was given an inch, he turned it into a mile." She said warming to the idea. "Imagine what he could have been if we were giving him miles the whole time…"

Sasuke nodded. "We started out as rivals, who wouldn't admit they became friends, and eventually comrades. But this time we'll start out as comrades, right from the beginning." As the two of them looked at Kakashi, he slowly nodded. After all those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash, right?

* * *

"…wanna get lunch with me to celebrate us being on the same team?" Naruto asked her with a hopeful expression on his face. Sakura thought back to all the times Naruto had asked her out and she had replied with her fists. All the times he had gone out of his way to make her feel better, the way he had sworn to her to bring Sasuke back to her. And she thought of the way he had always treasured her, and ultimately given his life to save hers.

"Sure Naruto, we can make a date out of it!" The sound of an entire room face faulting was priceless, as was the look of shocked excitement on Naruto's face as she dragged him out of the room. "See you in a while Sasuke!" she called over her shoulder.

Sasuke slowly smirked at his teammate's antics. Yeah, this was gonna be fun…

 **A/N:** I'm back! This was just a plot idea that I wanted to write a start to, if people like it I may write more, not really sure where I was going to go with this yet, so we shall see. Let me know what you think.

Oh and as a side note for those who care, I am working on a rewrite (again) of Kami's Reward. I have way more respect for anyone who can organize a video game fic now. Seriously there is like 400 million things to figure out before you even start.


	2. The Bell Test

Naruto was deeply confused. He had awoken at 7 AM to Sasuke knocking on his door, and telling him to follow. And he had been having such a pleasant dream too. Sakura-chan had said yes and gone on a date with him.

He had then been dragged to breakfast by his stoic teammate, where they were met by a bubbly, cheerful pinkette.

Who had promptly glomped him, and refused to let go until their food arrived. Throughout the meal they had discussed what they thought was coming and made plans to counter their sensei, who no doubt outclassed all of them by significant margin.

And now, said sensei had arrived on-time (something which shocked Sakura and Sasuke for some reason) and was demanding he take a bell from from him.

* * *

Sasuke for his part was silently enjoying the utter confusion on his teammate's face. When he had shown up at Naruto's apartment, the blond had grumbled repeatedly about temes ruining good dreams about Sakura-chan. Sasuke had suddenly been looking forward to breakfast a lot more.

He had finally convinced (read physically dragged) Naruto to breakfast after explaining that if they were going to be on a team together, the two of them were going to have to work together, and that probably meant being a little less antagonistic towards one another. (He had then had to explain what antagonistic meant but that was besides the point)

He had then waited rather impatiently for their third teammate to arrive. He was not disappointed when a pink missile had flattened Naruto, with a cheerful "Hiya Naruto-kun! Hiya Sasuke!" He had even had his sharingan activated under a small genjutsu. He could now watch the entire thing in detail over and over again.

So he was a little vindictive about someone else having to deal with an obsessive kuinoichi, sue him.

Naruto's eloquent response was to mumble "Wait, am I still dreaming?" which had made Sakura giggle. He had then proceeded to drill a number of plans into Naruto's had to ensure they would be able to pass the bell test. Not that he expected Kakashi to fail them, but it was important to put on a good show.

When they had arrived at the training field at the appointed time, he expected to have several hours to lay traps and prepare. Which is why he had leaped clear into a tree at Kakashi's _timely_ arrival, as the cyclops demanded Naruto take a bell.

* * *

Sakura was still a little giddy. The medical practitioner in her realized that part of her sudden obsession with Naruto was probably a psychological reaction to the fact that he had saved her, and more importantly _died_ for her. But she really didn't care. Naruto had always been there for her and she had, for a long time responded with violence and bile.

Yet still he stayed with her. And maybe it had just taken him dying for her to realize it, but she wouldn't give him up for the world. He was, indelibly, a part of her life, and had been for a while. That it took so long to realize that said more about her own self-perception than anything. Still he was here now, whole and warm and _alive._ So yes she was going to hug him, and make sure he knew that he was valued.

Because she knew Naruto, and she knew that was all he ever really wanted. So she passed the morning cheerfully conversing with _her_ Naruto-kun.

They had arrived at the training ground and expected to have several hours to prepare traps. Which was why she was rather startled when Kakashi-sensei arrived _on time_. She had immediately deduced that this was an impostor, intending to take advantage of their lack of knowledge about Kakashi. But since she knew Kakashi she saw through the trap.

She also rapidly deduced that there was only one logical target. She was still a clan-less genin-prospect born to first generation shinobi. A no-one, which meant she wasn't the target. Sasuke also likely wasn't the target since whoever it was would have had to infiltrate the village if they were from outside (something which took shinobi of Itachi's caliber, and anyone that strong wouldn't have bothered with impersonating Kakashi), and almost everyone in the village practically worshiped Sasuke still.

No the target was most likely Naruto. Especially since the impostor appeared right in front of him. Sakura cracked her knuckles as she advanced.

Fun fact that should be mentioned. Last night the three time travelers had met up to discuss what they were capable of in the past. Sasuke had almost no chakra reserves (relatively speaking) and was thus relatively harmless until he could build them up again. Kakashi had likewise lost a portion of his reserves, but had already had fairly massive stores of chakra already at this point, so this wasn't much of a loss for him. But Sakura had never had particularly large reserves.

She never needed them because she always had near perfect control. Which she still had, which meant she could still use Tsunade-taicho's monster strength.

Which she did. On Kakashi's face.

* * *

When Kakashi woke up he was rather displeased, despite Sakura having healed the damage she inflicted while Sasuke distracted Naruto. Which was sadly easy. He had watched his team proudly all morning as they planned to tear him a new one in the test. So naturally like any good sensei he decided to throw a wrench in the works by rewarding them and passing them all immediately.

They could apparently play dodge ball quite well, since they caught said wrench and proceeded to beat him with it.

So instead of having skipped the morning shenanigans and spending the afternoon training he spent an hour unconscious, and only had time to explain the test and get them started on tree walking before he had to rush off to the jounin meeting.

Wouldn't want to be late after all.

He poofed into the meeting space 5 minutes early and calmly leaned against a wall reading his Icha Icha, and pretended not to see Gai trip and fall flat on his face, or Asuma accidentally swallow his cigarette. Seeing the younger Sarutobi alive cemented the fact that they were in the past and gave Kakashi a warm feeling in his heart. He would go to any lengths to help his comrades, that was his promise to Obito's memory.

He was a bit saddened that he couldn't go back to save him as well, but since Sasuke was the one powering the seal, they could only go back as far as he could remember. So they went back as early as was practical.

Finally as the meeting was scheduled to start the Sandaime walked in and Kakashi couldn't help but smirk a little. This was bound to be hilarious.

"Well who's up for poker since we have three hours till Kakashi reports?" asked the Hokage. When no one replied he added "I'll add a ticket for a guaranteed weekend with no duties..." he offered.

"I'm game as long as we're waiting for me," Kakashi said, still smirking.

Sarutobi smiled, then froze and looked up eyes wide, seeing everyone staring at Kakashi.

"Yo," Kakashi finished smugly.

"B-but your on time!" was all he managed to get out.

"Actually I was early. I have to set a good example for my cute students, after all," he replied.

"Wait you actually passed a team!?" Genma interrupted.

"Yup!"

"But you never- Did you even have time to test them?" Kurenai asked from where she was still helping Asuma stop coughing.

"Nope!" Seeing the other Jounin's deadpan stares he figured he'd better explain. "They met up two hours early this morning to plan and prepare. If I had shown up at my usual late time, they would have had three hours to turn training field seven into hell for me. And Sasuke, the most reclusive of the group was the one who started the whole process. The whole point of the bell test is to see if they can work together. They were doing so before I even showed up, no test needed."

Hiruzen was still looking rather stupefied, so Kakashi decided to sum it for him. "You finally got lucky and putting the dead last with the two best students DIDN'T result in with two arch-nemesis on the same team! Good job boss!" He gave the Hokage a thumbs up. "Now if we are done here, I have three little legends to water." And with that he **Shunshin** 'ed away.

Finally recovering the Sandaime shook his head. Then he smirked _'If Kakashi-kun is taking those three's training so seriously, then they might just become legends indeed...'_ He looked over the rest of the jounin. "Who else has passing teams to report?

The rest of the jounin sensei hurried to report in, suddenly far more eager to get back to their teams, lest they be left in the dust.

 **A/N:** MY MUSE LIVES! Sorry its short but I had ideas, and wanted to get this written and posted enjoy!


End file.
